12 of the best things I've eaten in Cardiff in 2022

After twelve years of blogging, I have to admit I’m beginning to struggle to sit down and write a new restaurant review every week.

Perhaps briefly turning my hobby into a job took the shine off things a little, or maybe it’s the fact that blogs have been gradually superseded by myriad foodie Instagram accounts. 

Or perhaps it’s just the realisation of the brutal challenges facing Wales’s hospitality industry and a nagging feeling that I need to support my favourite restaurants rather than finding somewhere new to talk about each week.

Cardiff’s restaurant scene has genuinely never been better and there are so many places which I could happily visit week in and week out without ever getting bored. 

Bar 44, The Heathcock, Thomas by Tom Simmons, Heaney’s, Longa, Milkwood, Pasture, Curado Bar, Kindle, Purple Poppadom, Nook, Salkaara, Asador 44, Casanova, Zi’s Cafe, Bacareto, Sibling and Curry Hut are just a few of the places which I wish I could visit more often.

But, it would probably be a bit boring to write about them time and time again on this blog. Therefore, I think I’m probably going to spend more of 2023 revisiting the places I love and less time writing about them.

Over the last 12 months there have been plenty of new (and more established) places which have served me some brilliant dishes. So, here’s a round-up of a few of the best things I’ve eaten in Cardiff in 2022:

The Betty Campbell - Ansh

Having eaten a bunch of burgers from Victoria Park’s Ansh, I can comfortably say that they’re my favourite in Cardiff (and Wales). There’s so much attention to detail, from their meat, which is sourced from Oriel Jones’s family farm in the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains, to their squidgy yet robust potato buns.

Each of Ansh’s burgers is named after a Welsh icon and it’s the Betty Campbell which is my pick. A pair of big-flavoured smashed mutton patties are topped with deep spiced Caribbean mutton curry, a crusty ooze of tangy Welsh cheddar and a drizzle of sweet and fiery Carolina Reaper and pineapple jam.

Chicken tenders - Fowl & Fury

Fowl & Fury’s Nashville hot chicken is my first port of call whenever I’ve got a fried chicken itch which needs scratching.

Their chicken tenders (£9) are my go to order and its their mild spice level hits the mark for me.

Whopping and gorgeously tender overnight brined chicken breast pieces are coated in a beautifully gnarly crisp crumb dusted with a spice mix with a lovely savoury and sweet complexity and lip tingling chilli heat.

Lamb mandi - Hadramowt

City Road’s Hadramowt serves a range of traditional Yemeni dishes but there’s one dish which everyone seems to order - lamb mandi.

The centrepiece of this multi-component dish is a huge mound of fragrant kaleidoscopic rice piled high with pieces of impossibly tender bone-in lamb and crisp caramelised and charred onions.

Mushroom Karaage - Matsudai Ramen

It’s a given that the ramen from James Chant’s Matsudai Ramen is delicious, from their fiery Sunset Red Tonkotsu to their seriously savoury and meaty Miso Ramen.

But, it was their triple-fried oyster mushroom karaage which knocked my socks off during a visit to their debut restaurant in Cardiff’s Grangetown. With its hyper-crisp grease free crumb, impressively meaty texture and accompanying Coronation-esque curry mayo, it’s a vegetarian dish which is even better than its chicken equivalent.

Chocolate cremeux - Sopra 73

Uniting three legends of Cardiff’s restaurant scene, Sopra 73’s gutsy French cooking is right up my street. Lamb sweetbreads, whole lemon sole and blushing pink venison all formed part of a memorable meal earlier this year.

However, it was a thick, smooth and decadent chocolate cremeux which lives longest in the memory. Its delicate bitterness of dark chocolate was excellent paired with a scoop of creamy salted caramel ice cream.

Throw in pre-dinner drinks at Glass of Bandol, located just a few doors down, and it makes for a great Whitchurch night out.

Meri-Ann - West Pizza

Whilst I’ve got a lot of love for RomEat’s Roman style pizza by the slice and Scaramantica’s bubbly Neapolitan pizzas, this year it’s West’s New York style pizza which deserves singling out.

Based in Kongs and Underdog bars in Cardiff city centre, West is owned by the same team behind Cardiff Market’s excellent Ffwrnes Pizza.

A whopping slice of their Meri-Ann margherita will set you back a mere £2.50 (or you can buy a whole 18 inch pizza for £13.50). A crisp and airy crust and a thin base combine nicely with a well-balanced tomato sauce and a big ooze of salty and savoury golden cheese. It’s the kind of pizza I could guzzle in large quantities.

Isle of Mull scallop - Gorse

Tom Waters is a chef whose name you’re going to hear a lot more about in Cardiff in 2023. With an impressive CV, which includes stints as sous chef at the Michelin-starred Bonhams in Mayfair and junior sous chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck, Tom’s cooking incorporates techniques, ingredients and flavour combinations which are new to my many years of gluttony.

During a pop-up at Pontcanna’s Ground (he's just announced a residency there next year), one of the standouts was slices of plump and sweet raw Isle of Mull scallop adorned with pear slices and juice, smoked creme fraiche, and a cracking Amalfi lemon and British jalapeno kosho (a Japanese ferment), which delivered a hit of fragrant citrus and a deceptively fiery finish. 

Cheese and spinach borek - 4 Seasons

In terms of bang for buck, the cheese and spinach borek from 4 Seasons food store on City Road is probably my favourite Cardiff cheap eat of 2022. £1.49 buys you a whopping crisp and flaky pastry stuffed with salty cheese and vibrant spinach. Make sure you buy a £1 bag of freshly baked flatbreads whilst you’re there too.

Wild mushroom risotto - Casanova

Casanova’s wild mushroom risotto is one of my top comfort food dishes in the whole of Cardiff and it thankfully regularly appears as a special on their menu.

Risotto, a dish which is so often mediocre in the wrong hands, is pitch perfect at this seasonal Italian restaurant. From its creamy consistency, to the cooking of the rice, and its huge hit of funky wild mushroom and decadent parmesan cheese, everything about this dish is bang on.

Triple roast meats - Good World

Cantonese triple roast meats is one of my all time favourite dishes and it’s done well at Good World, a Chinese restaurant tucked away above a casino at Leckwith retail park.

The star of the trio was pork belly with hyper crisp crackling and well-rendered fat. Completing the threesome were sweet-marinated char sui pork and bronze-skinned duck served on top of soy-dressed fluffy rice and bok choy.

Tacos al Pastor - Wings of Glory

Run by a team who hail from Mexico and Colombia, Riverside’s understated Wings of Glory, is all about the food rather than the hipster vibes. Dishes on their Mexican, Colombian and Spanish focused menu include whopping arepas, freshly fried empanadas, sopes and tacos.

Excellent tacos al pastor combined soft corn tortillas topped with crisp pieces of marinated pork, slices of cleansing pineapple, white onion and coriander. A little pot of lightly smokey tomato salsa delivered a good thump of chilli.

Pakora scotch egg - Chai Social

An onion pakora scotch egg, it’s every bit as compelling as it sounds.

Golden crusted and light textured pakora surrounds a fudgey-yolked scotch egg and is served with a delicious sweet and tangy spiced tomato relish. It was one of the standouts of our meal at Chai Social, an all day drinking and dining destination, which earlier this year replaced the longstanding Mint & Mustard on Whitchurch Road.

Special mentions  

There are plenty of other Cardiff dishes which could easily have made the list this year from Asador 44’s epic fried breakfast and Heaney’s stonking Sunday roast, to Ceylon Spicy Pot’s copper coloured Sri Lankan aubergine curry, Zi’s Cafe’s fried chicken with dried chilli and leek, Salkaara’s saffron fragranced zafrani paneer, Saray’s tender mixed kebabs, Fresh Baguette’s peerless sandwiches, Nighthawk's cheese toasties, Malai’s cracking value Thai cooking and Longa’s beautiful Turkish breakfasts.

Further afield, we also had excellent meals from rising stars of the UK restaurant scene SY23 and Annwn as well as more established names like the Felin Fach Griffin, Stackpole Inn and Y Polyn. Leyli Homayoonfar’s Bab Haus, Alium in Barry, One O'Clock Gate in Dinas Powys, and Seven Lucky Gods at Newport Market also demonstrated there’s a lot of exciting things going on in south east Wales beyond Cardiff.

Cheers to lots more good eating in 2023 and supporting Wales’ vibrant independent restaurant scene.